VISIT KANAZAWA, JAPAN - Official Travel Guide

Everyday situations that seem to be changing rapidly may actually be shifting so slowly that we remain unaware of them. As an artist, Yuka Nomura has focused on the relationship between human activity and the land, visualizing the fundamental forces at work and the inherent sense of time that runs through both of them through on-site observation and interventions, expressed in the form of sculptures and installations. Her practice, which produces slight shifts within familiar landscapes and presents them as bold installations, works to unsettle and disrupt our perception.

For this solo exhibition in Kanazawa, where she spent her university years, Nomura focuses on the activity of gold panning that takes place in the city. Kanazawa's name is said to derive in part from “a valley where gold can be found,” and gold panning has long been practiced in the Saigawa River that flows through the city. Nomura’s new installation, crafted from a variety of light materials, draws inspiration from the scooping and shaking actions of gold panning that Nomura herself experienced while doing research for this work. These gestures resonate with the perpetual dynamism of nature that resembles the flow of a river as well as the continuous and uninterrupted history of the land, thereby illuminating the intersections that occur between human endeavor and the workings of nature.